College Football Hall of Fame 2018 Final Ballot

I have officially cast my ballot with the National Football Foundation for the College Football Hall of Fame class of 2018. As I have said since receiving my ballot, I wanted to make this process a transparent process, and take you, the reader, with me through the process of making my picks. There were 75 eligible candidates for the FBS Player selections, of which I had to narrow to 12 total votes. I was able to identify 10 players very quickly.  I then had to narrow a list of 18 players down to the final two selections. I was finally able to process those 18 players to 11, and from 11 to six. I finally selected the final two votes this evening, giving me 12 FBS votes. They are as follows:

Warren Sapp, DT, Miami
Lomas Brown, OT, Florida
Eric Dickerson, RB, SMU
Jumbo Elliott, OT, Michigan
Craig "Iron Head" Heyward, RB, Pittsburgh
Raghib "Rocket" Ismael, Notre Dame
Ray Lewis, LB, Miami
Ken Norton, Jr., LB, UCLA
Leslie O'Neal, DT, Oklahoma State
Troy Vincent, CB, Wisconsin
Steve Wisniewski, OG, Penn State
Charles Woodson, CB, Michigan

For FBS Coaches, there were six eligible candidates, of which I could select two. The candidate list, in my eyes, was one of the weaker overall classes I have seen in some time. In the end, there were only two legitimate candidates, and I selected the following:

Mack Brown, Texas
Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech

There were more divisional players eligible this year than FBS players. In all, there were 98 total eligible players from the ranks of FCS, Division 2, and Division 3 players. Of this group, I was allowed to select only four of these players. I immediately narrowed this group down to 10, and then finally to the four eligible players that I was allowed to select. They are as follows:

Bill Borchert, QB, Mount Union
John Fitzgerald, OG, Central Oklahoma
Dave Dickenson, QB, Montana
Ashley Ambrose, CB, Mississippi Valley State

There were 31 coaches eligible for entry into the Hall of Fame on the Divisional Coaches level. I had to narrow those selections to two votes. I have done so, and my votes have gone to the following:

Andy Talley, Villanova
Mel Tjeerdsma, Northwest Missouri State

There you have it, my completed ballot for the 2018 College Football Hall of Fame as was submitted today, June 17th, 2017.